Letter: End of foreign aid as we know it?

Is it the end of foreign aid as we know it? Did we ever know it? Most Americans greatly overestimate what is being done to combat global poverty with advertisements from organizations like UNICEF assuring that someone is helping impoverished nations. But that really isn’t the U.S., as less than 1 percent of the federal budget goes to the world’s poor and it looks like even that low rate may be decreased — or at least mandated to become more selective of who is deserving of aid.

The Trump administration’s new U.S. Agency for International Development plan obstructs the mission of foreign aid and advancement and instead creates a right-wing judgment panel for countries’ suitability for aid. The USAID’s criteria have been labeled the “Roadmap to Self-Reliance,” which determines what countries to focus on for development and how changes will be implemented. In the past, the government has relied on outside sources such as envoys of the United Nations to report the need for foreign aid and not on political-based groups.

I urge my Indiana state leaders, Rep. Todd Rokita and Sens. Joe Donnelly and Todd Young, and other congressional members to not only advocate for the international affairs budget but to increase political pressure to support the world’s poor.

Haley Newlin

Dayton

Your turn

Submit letters to the editor of 250 words or fewer to editor@jconline.com or to 823 Park East Blvd., Lafayette, IN 47905. Please include your name, town and phone number, for confirmation purposes.

Read or Share this story: https://www.jconline.com/story/news/opinion/letters/2018/12/26/letter-end-foreign-aid-we-know/2418253002/